The Officer That Knows
by sctwilightvampwolfgal
Summary: Tino felt uncomfortable under that stare that seemed to reveal everything and make the Finn stammer uncontrollably and reveal much more of the truth than he felt comfortable sharing.
1. Chapter 1

Everything was exposed under the other's hard stare, and it unnerved Tino.

He had done so wrong in his life that he didn't want the other to see.

He couldn't simply admit to that and be honest with the world.

Besides it was much easier to seal away thoughts of guilt and guilt, itself, from the public eye to avoid scrutiny, but Berwald's stare didn't allow that as it seemed to see everything.

Tino shivered and cowered under the fierce stare, and it took a moment for the Finn to answer to hear what had just been asked.

"What did you see?" That was a weighted question though not so much as 'What did you do?'

The night before was a blur of memories and moments that were built up of months of prior events.

"I-I don't know." Tino stammered, mentally seeing a blur of potentially illegal activity that had occurred; Tino however couldn't remember what it was.

"Why don't you know?" The officer's voice grumbled in its deep and gravely rumble.

"I was drunk," Tino admitted nervously, "And high."  
He didn't mean to admit that as he was technically underage and the drugs that he had were illegal.

"Who gave you those things?" The officer continued to question.

"W-Well, a friend brought me - they had alcohol there." Tino stuttered. "The drugs came much later."  
"Was your friend still there?" Berwald did not cease his seemingly endless questioning.

"Y-Yeah, for a bit." And then Tino cried as he remembered through his still distorted mind, Eduard's body, and the shouting and the blood.

Tino felt sick.

"He died?" There appeared to be remorse and caring hidden in Berwald's voice.

"Y-Yes. His body, you found." Tino tried to wipe his tears away and his pain, but the action failed to do so.

Berwald stood up and tucked the Finn around his coat as he lead him to a soft place to spend the night, "I'm sorry."

The mutter was more than enough to send more tears down Tino's face and yet convey that hidden care in Berwald's voice.


	2. Chapter 2

Tino bundled Berwald's coat tighter around his frame as he sat down on the soft couch, still remembering the crime scene, seeing the blood in his mind, and found himself feeling more than a little sick.

He shifted to lay down, imagining a better world where friends didn't die at parties, weren't killed.

Tino closed his eyes, trying to think of something nice to sooth his fears, to let him rest, but all that he could see in his head was blood and a body or the eyes that he realized would haunt him, force him to speak up about whatever regardless.

He puffed his breath out, exhausted, as finally he closed his eyes and slept.

* * *

The young man ran, feeling adrenaline surge through weary veins, ones that had been watered down from the drugs and the alcohol, and tried to carefully avoid the danger chasing him.

There was a man just behind him, tall and muscular, dangerous to even so much as look at, and Tino tried to run faster, avoid the imminent doom chasing him down.

He only stopped when he couldn't help heaving over the sight of his friend, once full of live, now dead, corpse covered in blood from little splotches to much larger ones, and the lifeless eyes that stared up at him, tormented him.

Tino shrieks when he feels a strong arm wrap around his middle, knife digging through his hips, dragging the pain out slowly from his body, scarring him.

He burrows further and further away, trying to climb into the ditch, join Eduard, longing for the safety and security of numbers though he wasn't fast enough.

Stomach heaving was the last thing that he felt before finally the knife dug in deeper, and he was out, disconnected from the world.

* * *

Tino screams as he awakes, feeling the phantom cuts dance along his veins, feeling the fear that trembled through every last inch of his being.

He buries his face in his arms and cries.

The, "Are you okay?" that follows hurts to even imagine; Eduard hadn't even had this kind of chance.

"I-It's just a dream. I-I'm fine." Tino tries to catch his breath, Eduard's lifeless body is stuck in his mind regardless of any amount of hours that had passed since he'd last seen it.


	3. Chapter 3

It ached like a broken clock, drove Tino nearly mad at the harsh tug of reality and at the harshness of his dream.

He stared up at the man that had appeared by his side; Berwald had a worried crease to his eyes and held a cup of coffee gingerly like a present.

Tino closed his eyes and took deep breaths; the pain was too much. It hurt to even think of Eduard.

"Do you remember anything?" Berwald sat down beside him and offered the black coffee now as a gift; the else was more implied than anything.

"No, but I'm scared." Tino stared into his black coffee, too scared to meet Berwald's eyes, too scared to really say much, let alone that he didn't like black coffee. Tino preferred it sweetened, but he couldn't find the words to ask for sweetener or sugar and managed to take a sip and avoid a grimace from developing on his face.

"We have everyone investigating what exactly led to your friend's death and who killed him." Berwald muttered staying close to the Finn that sat on the couch.

"I-I know." Tino took a deep breath, "My nightmare had a big, muscular guy chasing me down and stabbing me to death. I didn't see anyone like that at the party, and I couldn't see his face."

"It's okay to be scared." Berwald stammered softly as he tried not to look so intimidating to the Finn, considering he was significantly more muscular and taller than the younger male was.

"I know." Tino murmured, "Eduard talked to Emil the last time I saw. I don't know Emil all that well. He's younger than me and new to our school. He's quiet and sometimes seems really sneaky; his older brother is Lukas who's closer to my age and doesn't say much that I'm aware. I don't know how Emil got to that party. He's too young to drive, and I didn't see his brother." Tino had looked up and met Berwald's eyes.

"Do you know if they knew each other or why they were talking?" Berwald asked him, watching the frightened way that Tino bundled up in his coat.

"Not really. Eduard told me something about a new shipment, didn't really explain what it was, and Emil wanted to talk to him alone. Eduard wasn't as drunk as I was and hadn't touched the drugs; he wanted to stay as sober as possible just in case." Tino cried, curling further in on himself, remembering through the haze of his memory the way that Eduard had left his side with a gentle brush to his hip: a sign that he'd be back soon to take him home. Tino didn't remember whether Eduard had came back or not.

Tino remembered the coldness of the chill of night as he walked further away from the house, trying to find Eduard when his stumbling through the house got old, and remembers walking up to the ditch and trying to get a breath of fresh air and seeing his friend lying in a ditch, completely dead.

He screamed and dialed nine, one, one on shaky fingers and cried further when the police had arrived; he had slowly but surely been sobering up, but the pain of it was intense.

The hospital had declared Eduard officially dead not long later, and Tino'd cried some more before he was brought into interrogation.


End file.
